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Archive for January 14th, 2011

Another Texas nuclear plant unit down

Posted in Nuclear, tagged , , on January 14, 2011 |

Luminant, operator of the two-unit Comanche Peak nuclear power plant 45 miles southwest of Fort Worth, shut down the facility’s Unit 1 reactor about 7 p.m. Thursday and they were still working earlier today to correct the problem that caused the shutdown.  No word yet as to when the unit would be back online. 

Luminant says they were  investigating the cause of this issue, but decided to to take the unit offline to ensure the continued safety of plant employees and plant reliability due to a problem related to an under-voltage relay, which ensures the appropriate amount of voltage is provided to a pump motor.

This outage comes on the heels of STP’s almost month long shutdown back in November of 2010.  See our earlier blog post about that outage.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Comanche Peak’s Unit 1 was reported back on on Saturday, January 15th.  We were unable to find out what time the nuclear reactor was brought back on line that day, but know that the unit was off line for more than 24 hours.

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EPA v. Texas: Showdown in Dallas

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2011 |

The much anticipated hearing between the Environmental Protection Agency and Texas regarding the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions will occur this morning in Dallas, Texas.  The hearing is set to begin at 10:00 AM and is expected to continue through 7:00 PM this evening.  The hearing will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Market Center and will assemble both the public and concerned citizens of Texas for dissent and opinion on the issue.  Many members of the community will be in attendance, as well as other battlemen fighting for justice, including the Sierra Club and of course, Public Citizen, represented by our very own pirate coal activist Ryan Rittenhouse! We will be making our voice heard this morning in Dallas in hopes of changing the current regulations concerning emission standards.  Businessweek has quoted Neil Carman of Sierra Club on the issue, who has assessed that the new rules of the EPA will not in fact be costly to implement whatsoever.

The latest controversy involves the decision made late last year that the EPA would in fact be taking over the permitting process regarding emission regulation in Texas.   In response, Texas is now currently suing the EPA to try and halt their implementation plan which would essentially call for more rigid regulation standards in either new or existing power plant and/or oil facilities.

Old Cowboy western shootout picture

EPA vs. Texas: Emissions Shootout

Texas claims that the EPA is overstepping the state’s authority with respect to emission setting standards.  The EPA’s justification for taking over the permitting process is related to Texas rejecting to comply with the EPA’s new greenhouse gas rules issued earlier this year.  The EPA claims that Texas has left them no other choice but to take over, not only because of the hot-headed letter we sent to EPA refusing to comply with the Clean Air Act, but also since Texas is also the leading nation in greenhouse gas emissions as well as industrial pollution.   By holding this hearing, the EPA is allowing both environmental advocacy groups as well as the public to voice their opinion before the final decision is rendered concerning emission standards.

Will the outcome of this battle prove to be victorious? Tune in next time to find out!

Related Articles:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-06/epa-texas-feud-escalates-over-new-carbon-regulations.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7381200.html#drop

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/print-edition/2011/01/14/epas-takeover-of-permitting-to-have.html

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